One Last Chance
by Ava Turner
Summary: A part of Drake's deal was to help Cole be resurrected into the real world. To do this he enlisted the help of someone in Cole's past. Now Cole is alive again and he wants Phoebe back. Will Phoebe be persuaded or should Cole find comfort in an old friend?
1. Chapter One

Title: One Last Chance  
Notes: This becomes an AU after seven year witch. I've altered some of the dialogue in the final scene of the episode and it will branch off from there. Be warned, I'm planning a love triangle. :)

"You did good."

Cole just stood there and looked at Drake.

"Thanks," Drake said and turned around the face him. "So did you. I couldn't have tasted life unless you set me up with that sorcerer."

"Did you remember what you promised?" Cole asked.

Drake smiled. "A deal is a deal." Drake passed him a vial.

Cole looked down at it. He'd came this far..

Both of them looked up as chimes rang through the Magic School.

"How's dying like?" Drake asked.

"Painful."

"Comforting," Drake chuckled. Cole saw the colour drain from his face and watched as he fell to the floor. Drake stood up as a ghost.

"Good luck. You be good to her, she deserves a lot," Drake told him.

The door of the hallway opened and Cole turned. For a minute he thought Phoebe had come to see Drake's last moments, but it was not. Even though he recognized her, she looked so different.

Drake's body dissolved in a quick burst.

"Okay, that was interesting. Ashes to ashes, eh?"

Drake looked at the woman standing behind Cole. "I guess it's time for me to go." Cole nodded. 

"Thank you," Cole said.

Drake smiled briefly and let go. He disappeared in bright lights, seemed almost like a white orb.

Cole turned around. He took the vial and drank it. He didn't feel different but he must have joined the living plane as the woman in front of him smiled.

"Cole."

She walked up to him and grabbed his hand.

"Vanessa."

He smiled. She grinned.

"When some whacked out poet comes and visits me and says a Cole Turner has a message for me, I think I shouldn't kill him and wait to hear what he has to say."

"Good intuition."

Vanessa reached out and touched his face. "Not liking the hair, darling."

Her finger grazed across his cheek. It sent him shivers. He hadn't felt like this for so long..

"My poor baby is so hurt. She doesn't deserve you, Cole."

"Let's go."

She sighed and shimmered them away.

Cole looked around himself.

"You always had expensive taste."

Vanessa smiled. Cole looked around. The place was a mansion. The room he was in seemed to be some kind of sitting room. It had huge big and plush couches, a huge television and the room was big enough to be its own house.

"Do you want the grand tour?"

"No."

Cole had sat on the couch and she sat near him. She interlocked her fingers with his as he looked around.

"I've heard so much gossip about what happened to you these last couple of years. I need to hear it from you."

"It's very simple. I fell in love again."

Vanessa smiled. "Weren't we the cutest couple?"

"Absolutely." Cole smiled. "I've never been wrenched from a relationship before. I usually wind down from it, don't feel so strong when it falls apart. Not this time."

Cole looked up at Vanessa. "How many men have you married since I last talked?"

"Three." She said. Vanessa got up and sat on his lap.

"What's that make it? Eleven times?"

"I fell in love with every one of those men, thank you very much."

"Sure."

Her face was so close to his. He could feel her breath on his face. Her lips brushed with his but he pulled away.

"You're no fun."

Vanessa was pouting. She was very moody today.

"Go see her Cole. I can see what she's done to you already and it's only been ten minutes."

"I can't. She'll think I have something planned. She'll get defensive."

"So what's the big plan? Sit here and feel sorry for yourself? Come on."

Cole thought for a moment. "It'll take time. And I need time to figure everything out."

"What's to figure out, Cole? You love her."

"I know, Vanessa, believe me, I know."

"Cole," Vanessa said, "You're the smartest guy I have ever met. You'll find a way."

Just then he felt himself let go. Vanessa as so close, he felt so hot, burning. He lent upwards to kiss her, to feel anything..

She abruptly swung her legs to the floor and got up.

"You are such a tease!" he called after her.

As she exited the room she called over her shoulder "It's why I'm so irresistible."

Cole knew he cared for Vanessa too. Phoebe was so hard sometimes, and he knew he could have Vanessa with no problem. It was easy. They'd been through a lot and they were great friends.

But Phoebe made his insides churn, his blood boil, his heart flutter. Vanessa didn't do that anymore. Vanessa and he just took comfort in each other's company..

He longed to feel like that again. Phoebe was waiting for him. He had to fight for her. Cole would take her back and never let go. Never.

The only question was how was he gonna get her back? Phoebe wouldn't exactly be glad to see him.

--

TBC...


	2. Chapter Two

Cole woke up and was surprised. He hadn't slept for years. How long had it been since he had been killed? One year? Two years? The sleep felt good. He just wanted to relax and drift off again.

He heard the foreign sound of a shower running. For a minute he thought maybe he was in the manor and his vanquish and the thereafter had been some huge nightmare. As his eyes focused in the darkness he knew that definitely wasn't true.

He was at Vanessa's place. Now he remembered.

Vanessa.

When his life had changed, when Cole had been with Phoebe, he had rarely thought about her. The past year as he watched Phoebe and her sisters live their lives he had thought about her a lot.

Had she changed? No.

Had Phoebe changed? Oh yeah. Definitely.

"I know your think about me," he heard Vanessa say. He realized she was at the door.

"Well, with your psychic abilities, I'm not surprised. I thought you said you didn't read people's mind anymore. Invasion of privacy, yes?"

"More like I don't want to know what people are thinking. They can be thinking some weird things. You – you're different."

"How?"

"You intrigue me."

Cole laughed. He got out of bed and grabbed his shirt which he had hastily thrown on the floor the night before.

Vanessa walked to the window and drew the blinds. Light filtered into the room. He was surprised to see she was wearing attire that looked nice. Business casual.

She smiled. "Breakfast?"

"Sure. What have you got?"

"Nothing. I was thinking of having some fries, maybe a burger.."

Cole chuckled. "You still don't cook?"

"I never will, darling."

Vanessa left the room slowly. Lingering. He had missed her flirtatious personality. She could never do anything – not even exit a room – without doing it sexily.

Cole followed her.

"Before we get too comfortless with each other I need to ask you one thing," Cole said. "How you stand in the magical world."

She rolled her eyes. "Right. Staying with a psychotic, innocent killing, demon slaughtering psychopath ex-girlfriend might lower your chances with your princess."

If Cole hadn't known better he would have thought she was either hurt or mad. Sarcasm was dripping from the statement and he knew she was concerned.

"It's not just that. I'm not a demon anymore," he told her.

"Correction. You're a sissy demon that will use your powers against the nature of what those powers were created for."

Cole sighed.

She continued without skipping a beat. "Maybe if energy ball throwing was made for killing, that's what it should be used for."

She looked at him. It was almost a glare. She seemed to be just trying to figure him out.

"Your answer?" he asked.

"Your girlfriend should not be forcing decisions onto you," she said, frowning. She paused and sighed. "The answer is no. I'm a material girl, you know that."

That he did. He'd remembered he could manipulate her into doing anything if he bought her new shoes, new clothes, even some new jewelry. It made him think she was hypocritical. If she was using powers for herself.. that wasn't what her demonic powers were created for either!

"Personal gain is so different from switching sides," she said, reading what he had been thinking.

"Why do I talk if you know what I'm gonna say before I even decide to say it?" he asked.

"Now, if you had these powers too, we would have no use for verbal conversations," she winked at him.

Just like that, their fight disappeared. The energy in the room was again flirtatious. Their relationship was back to the old days – intense and extremely temperamental.

A phone beeped and she picked up her cell phone from the table. She flicked the cover open and looked at the screen for a while.

"Work. Welcome to the new world.." she muttered.

"Speaking of, my newly resurrected friend, time to get back to the world which absolutely and definitely means getting a job. I can get you one. Want to go to work?"

He chuckled. "I think I'm either classed as dead or missing so you'll have to wait until I get things cleared up."

"You could always be a fugitive, hey?" she said chirpily. He smiled.

She grabbed a pen and started writing. She handed a slip of paper to him.

"My cell number. We are absolutely meeting for lunch. No questions."

"Would I dare defy an ex-demon psychopath?" he joked. Of her look, "your words, not mine".

"I said psychotic."

"You also said psychopath."

She rolled her eyes and turned away. "Call me", she called over her shoulder as she headed towards her front door.

"Have a lovely day at work," he called out. "Which car can I borrow and where do I find the keys?"

Cole knew where he was heading. To his ex-wife's house. The same ex-wife that on sight, nearly always threatens to banish him to yet another ghost plane. Vanquishing, specifically.

Suicidal?

Of course. What else could his first day back in he world bring?


	3. Chapter Three

The manor door swung open and standing in front of Cole was piper. She rolled her eyes.

"No ulterior motive, huh? Coincidence you got out of your ungodly plane so soon." Piper was rolling her eyes.

"Can I please speak to Phoebe?"

"Not a good idea," Piper said. "Very bad idea. Now go away before someone else sees you and cries wolf and we're all making vanquishing potions."

"I have to take that chance," Cole told her. "I love your sister."

Piper nodded. "Though as I said earlier, she fell out of love with you fairly quickly. She no longer feels as she did."

"I don't believe it," Cole said.

"Your more stubborn then me. Heck, you're more stubborn then Prue, and that's saying something."

Cole smiled. Cole had fond memories of Prue. Piper and Prue were a lot alike.

"What is **he** doing here?" Cole heard Paige ask. He looked over Piper's shoulder to see Paige with her arms crossed over her chest. Cole had thought Piper would be more receptive and that he and Piper could try and convince Paige.. so far not happening. Now he had to go up against Paige by himself.

"He wants to see Phoebe."

"Piper!" Paige hissed, "Michael is going to be here soon. Get him out of here."

"Michael?" Piper asked. "Who's he?"

Cole felt like rolling his eyes. Hadn't even been there a couple of minutes and they already were ignoring him.

"Phoebe's lunch date!" Paige hissed.

Now that one perked up Cole's ears. She had a boyfriend already? Drake only died yesterday.

"Rebound," Cole chuckled. He forgot they were there for a second and said it a bit louder then he had hoped.

"Excuse me?" Paige asked. "Phoebe is totally over you."

Cole nodded. "Maybe. Is she over Drake?"

Paige glared at him. "If you know about Drake then that means you must have been **stalking** her. That's sick."

Cole rolled his eyes. "Ask Piper about that one."

Paige looked at Piper questionably. Cole did the same.

"Look," Piper said. "This is all happening too fast. Just leave."

"Michael's here," Paige hissed. "Shimmer your ass out of here before I orb you to hell!"

"Hmm?" Cole asked, confused. He turned to see a young man approach. He had sandy brown hair and was wearing a suit.

"Is he English, because he looks like a ponce."

Piper laughed. She didn't like the look of this guy either. Paige just gave a deathly stare.

"Okay, okay, I'm gone."

"You can't just shimmer!" Paige snapped.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Cole asked, confused.

"He'll see you! You can't do that."

Cole gave a half smile. "Oh, so I have to stay here?"

"Hey," Michael said approaching. "Hi, Paige."

Paige smiled. "Hi, Mike."

He looked at Piper. "You must be Phoebe's other sister, Piper."

"Yup, that's me," she said. Without another word she left, flicking her long hair over her shoulder.

Michael raised his eyebrows at Cole. Michael held out his hand.

"I'm Michael."

"Cole," he said, shaking his hand. "Phoebe's husband."

As he expected, Paige erupted.

"Ex-husband!" she said loudly. "Don't listen to him, Mike, he's just bitter. Phoebe's upstairs, why don't you go get her."

"Uh, sure. Actually, I remember Phoebe mentioning she had been married once, but her husband had been killed..." he trailed off.

"Yup," Cole said cheerily. "They've tried to kill me many times. I just keep coming back."

He paused for a second and said loudly, looking at Paige "And I will continue to come back."

"Cole!" Paige snapped.

"Okay, okay, I'm gone."

Cole stepped backwards and turned away. Michael turned around to say something to Cole but he was gone.

Paige smiled. "I'll go get Phoebe."


	4. Chapter Four

"How'd it go?" Vanessa asked.

Cole and Vanessa were having lunch as they would agree they had. Cole had never even heard of the restaurant, it was very expensive. It was even a little too romantic for two friends to be having lunch but he shrugged it off.

When he'd gone to Vanessa's work he'd been surprised how big it was. Cole was even more surprised to learn that she was the big boss – the CEO of the company.

If Phoebe didn't come around, at least he could get a good job with a little help from Vanessa.

No, it wouldn't come to that. He would get Phoebe.

He then thought about what had happened this morning. It certainly hadn't gotten too well. He hadn't even seen Phoebe. Her sisters were shielding him from Phoebe.

Again.

And then there was Michael. The lunch date guy. She was already dating someone less then 24 hours after the demise of her last fling?

"I'll ask you again," Vanessa said. "I **never** ask a third time."

And for the first time since Cole had seen Vanessa, he remembered the demon side of her. He remembered her saying that phrase a couple time before. She would torture witches for information on other witches locations, kill them, and then hunt down the next ones.

"Uh.. It went okay, I guess."

"The hell it did," she said, her eyebrows raised. She leant over and pushed his chin up.

"Smile, darling, it brings out your lovely eyes."

God, he had missed her accent. It drove him wild.

Vanessa held a special place in his heart.. but Phoebe.. it was her that his heart belonged to. He had to get back to her, somehow. Nobody would stop him.

"I don't know if I can do it, Vanessa."

She smiled. "Of course you can. You're the most intelligent and ruthless man I know. You will find a way. You always do."

"Ruthless doesn't cut it with humans, especially not with witches," Cole told her. "Believe me, unsheltered territory. All my manipulation techniques that I have perfected to the very last detail do not work."

"You thrive in the human world, that's what made you so good. That's why Raynor chose you for the Brotherhood. You blend in this world."

She paused and said confidently, "You will find a way. I have the utmost confidence in you."

"I don't know," he said unsurely.

"Hey," she said softly, "If you can bring the human out in someone like me, you can do anything."

He thought for a moment. Vanessa had been so ruthless, so evil. She really didn't care about his human side when they had mission objectives. As long as he got the job done. Something changed in her later, something he never could put his finger on. One day in the 50's it hit him – she was getting kinder. He was sure she was showing human emotions and affections. 

"I changed because of you, you know."

Her voice interrupted his thoughts. Maybe he had. As it turned out, 8 generation ago there was a demoness whose great grandmother had been a human. Through all those years, the human should have withered away. He still had somehow tapped into it.

Though she was far from human. She had reluctance to do some things, but she was still evil. Vanessa did care about him, but anyone who underestimated her capacity for doing evil things was making a huge mistake.

Cole finally spoke up. "You still have no idea what it is to love."

She nodded. "I know I don't. By the way it's driving you crazy, I don't know I even want to. I care about you, and that's a start."

Cole said nothing.

"It's not that I lost you," she told him, "It's that the woman who has captured your heart doesn't want you. She doesn't deserve to have you, when she finally comes to her senses."

"Vanessa, you've got it all wrong. I deserve this."

"She went evil. I know she did, and I know while she was by your side as the Queen of evil, she still helped her sisters. She cannot expect you to switch completely over, with no hesitations, no mistakes. She couldn't do it."

"Sure, good cannot be evil and evil cannot be good. There was no mistake that Phoebe is a force of good. What am I? I've been evil for so long, so does that make me a force of evil? Maybe their right to doubt me."

"All this emotions and love talk is making my head spin," Vanessa said.

"Okay," Cole said. "Maybe a change of topic is needed. Tell me about your latest conquests."

Her face lit up, and she gave a flirty smile. She was back in her domain.

"All of them?"

"How about we just start with the ones you ended up marrying."

"First there was Liam," Vanessa said. "Doctor, very rich."

"Gave you the house?" Cole asked.

"The Ferrari, plus a couple million," she said, shrugging.

"Chicken's feed," Cole said, smugly.

"He had a good divorce lawyer. I nearly got so mad I killed him."

"I was joking," Cole said.

"So was I," she said winking.

"Next?" he asked.

"Will. Lawyer."

"You always fall for the lawyer," he laughed.

"Conveniently your choice of occupation," she said to him, grinning. "And I do not fall for **them**, just their **mansions**."

"Ah, so that's where the house come from," Cole said slyly.

"That's a playpen compared to his **real** mansion."

"Lawyer's don't make that much. Must have won all his cases."

"Nah," she said, laughing "He just had a rich daddy."

"And the last one?"

Vanessa hesitated. Cle saw a flicker in her eyes, similar to the look Piper had given him in the ghostly plane. He still couldn't figure out that one. So she had really cared for this one.

"His name was Jack," she said strongly, trying to mask her feelings.

"This one you fell for,"

"Did not!" she squealed like a spoilt child.

"The human is emerging..." he teased.

Vanessa glared at him. "The demon is still in control," she told him confidently.

"Not after I'm done with you," he said coyly.

"I can't embrace it like you can, Cole,"

"If you wanted to you could. Human emotions never go away – you can suppress them but you can never escape. I know. All you have to do is tap into them."

"My soul is too corrupted," she said quickly.

He grinned. "I'm sure."

"Time to go back to work," she said quickly.

"Conversation getting too complicated?"

She just gave him a look and he withdrew, he couldn't win this fight. He could never win a fight with her.

She reached to grab her purse.

"No, I'm taking the bill," Cole told her.

"You couldn't afford it," she teased him.

"I pride myself in being a gentleman," he told her.

"You don't even have a job," she argued.

"If this bankrupts me," he told her, approaching the restaurant counter, "I promise I'll sell your Lamborghini to cover the costs."

She gave him a face. "I'm keeping that car, thank you very much."

"Luck of lucks," he muttered, stopping dead in his tracks. He turned to face Vanessa. "You're three o'clock."

Vanessa looked into the direction he was referring to and saw a couple finishing off lunch.

"Phoebe and her date," Cole told her.

"That is the beautiful and mesmerizing witch?"

Cole raised his eyebrows. "I think she is very beautiful," he said, his voice cracking.

"I at least expected her to be taller," she said, looking deeply at Cole. He was avoiding her glance. "I'll pay, meet me outside," she said.

"Thank you."

As luck would have it, they finished their meals at the same time and Phoebe was approaching her, obviously to pay for her meal.

"Guys," the woman Vanessa knew as Phoebe said to her, "As soon as it's time to pay the bill, it's time to disappear."

"Already upset with your boy in shiny armor?" Vanessa said softly, probing, her voice cold. "Time to vanquish him?"

Phoebe's face showed surprise. She regained her composure.

"I've only vanquished my husband," she said softly. "What are you? Evil? Good?"

Vanessa interrupted her as Phoebe was about to continue.

"Lucky for you, I'm a bit of both. It's why you're not dead already."

Phoebe was about to say something, but seeing her credit card had gone through, Vanessa snatched it off the poor waiter in front of her, and headed for the door.

She gave a smile to Cole who was waiting by the card.

"You didn't talk to her, did you?" he asked quickly.

"Of course not," she told him.

"Vanessa.."

"She has no idea who I am, I swear," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "I have to get back. Are you coming?"

Cole looked into the darkened restaurant. He changed his mind, he did want a confrontation with Phoebe..

Vanessa grabbed his hand and guided him into the car.

Cole sighed softly. It seemed to all work out okay, though he had a feeling Vanessa was lying to him.


End file.
